Target or range shelters are used to simulate houses or other shelters that may be fired at during the course of a military training exercise. Because the shelters will be hit by hundreds or thousands of rounds of live ammunition the range shelters are, by there very nature, temporary shelters. The prior art includes several different types of range shelters. One of the most common type of range shelters is the wood shelter that is primarily made of prefabricated plywood panels. Although the wood panels are relatively light and somewhat replaceable, they also have many draw backs, including that they are easily damaged by the live ammunition, and so must be replaced frequently, are a serious fire hazard, violently splinter, cause the bullets to scatter, splashback, or ricochet, and can be costly to clean up.
Another type of range shelter is the type that is designed to actually stop bullets. An example of this type of range shelter, called a bullet containment shelter, is disclosed by United States Published Patent Application No. 2006/0107985, filed by Sovine. Sovine discloses a modular shoot house facility with panels that are specifically designed to not let bullets pass through. United States Published Patent Application No. 2007/0113487, filed by Warminsky discloses another type of bullet containment range shelter. This type of bullet containment range shelter is useful if the range shelter will actually be entered by a shooter during target practice.
Regarding temporary structures that are generally related to shooting and other gun related sports, U.S. Pat. No. 7,357,394 issued to Halverson discloses a portable and modular shooting range. Importantly, Halverson does not disclose a building that itself is meant to take fire, rather, the users fires at targets when both the user and the targets are inside the building.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,673, issued to Adams and U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,269, issued to Marcum, disclose a modular paneled structure that is erected for the purpose of serving as a hunting blind. Adams discloses that the panels may be made from a metallic skin with expanded polystyrene so that the panels act as insulators to keep the hunter using them warm. However, Adams does not disclose that the panels may be made from polyurethane or that the panels take fire from live ammunition.
Regarding range targets which are specifically designed to allow live ammunition to pass through without causing too much damage to the target, U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,425, issued to Seibert, discloses a “target for firearm projectiles including a body of an ionomeric material comprising a metallic salt of a copolymer of ethylene and a vinyl monomer having an acidic group, said body being operable, when penetrated by a bullet to first stretch and deform and then to form an opening therethrough which reseals after the bullet has passed and including a target support structure for retaining said body of ionomeric material.” An ionomeric material is mixture of glass and an organic acid. Although Seibert discloses an ammunition target that is designed to allow a projectile to pass through the target, Seibert utterly fails to disclose a range “shelter” that is made from a pass through material and fails to disclose that the pass through material is made from aluminum or galvanized steel and polyurethane.
Additionally, one of the above shelters and targets take into consideration the damage that they do to the environment. For example, the typical wood prior art range, when it is utterly destroyed by the ammunition, or when it is removed, leaves an environmentally unfriendly footprint. Seibert is not environmentally friendly because it is made out of an ionomeric material.
Thus, what is needed is an environmentally friendly, portable, modular, and light weight range shelter, which is easy to install and remove and that allows ammunition to pass through its panels with minimal damage to the shelter, and which does not ricochet or splashback the projectiles.